LORIUM. - An ancient diocese that arose on an imperial villa at the 12th mile on the Via Aurelia, later called Castel di Guido. Within its territory a basilica was also built over the tomb of Sts. Rufina and Secunda by Julius I, which, after being restored by Adrian I (Lib. Pont., I, p. 508) and enriched by Leo IV (ibid., II, p. 122), was later destroyed by the Saracen raids of 847 and 876.
Near it, which Sergius III restored in 906 and which Bishop Peter, under Benedict IX, fortified with walls and a moat, the suburbicarian bishops of L. established their see. The first historically certain one is Petrus Lorensis, who took part in the Synod of 487, although local Christian records may go back to the 4th and even the 3rd century (Nuovo bull. d'arch. crist., 17 [1911], p. 109). In 501 the bishop of L., from the place of the martyrdom of the aforementioned Saints, styled himself "episcopus ecclesiae Silvae Candidae" and also "episcopus S. Rufinae." In Nov. 1037 Benedict IX appointed the bishops of Selva Candida chancellors of the Holy Roman Church, and among these the cardinals Umberto and Mainardo distinguished themselves. Because of depopulation, Callistus II in 1120 united the diocese of Selva Candida with that of Porto (v.).
Bibliography3 works
(1892), p. 484; P. F. Kehr, Italia Pontificia. II, Berlino 1907, p. 24 ff.; G. Tomasetti, La campagna romana, II, Roma 1911, pp. 464 and 487; Lanzoni, I, pp. 506-509.
Alberto Galieu